rain rain and more rain

Here in Yorkshire we are having the most awful weather ever. I know you will have all seen the dreadful floods on t.v. luckily we have not experienced floods as we live quite high up. One of my daughters who lives in Sheffield has been flooded but luckily not lost any personal precious things. Her garden has been washed away and she has lost all the lovely pots of bedding plants I made for her, it was very scary and she has moved in with friends until the water subsides. More rain is forecast for this weekend so we are all very concerned. My garden is a complete mess at the moment I have had to cut down all my delphiniums and other tall plants and stake the best I can most of my other plants. This time last year I was holding an open garden. glad it’s not this year. My friend and I were due to visit an open garden walk last Sunday which had to be cancelled because of the weather, we had also planned one this Sunday, looks like this will be cancelled also if the weather forecast is correct. Mother nature can be so cruel at times. I do think myself very lucky as people have lost lives and homes, so my garden does seem very unimportant. If it ever recovers I will get back to posting lovely photos, in the meantime I will enjoy all the wonderful pics all you members are posting.

Comments

I think we all expected a hot summer like last year, I'm considering gardening in the rain in a packamac! lol and trying to get my carbon emissions down , global warming is beginning to bite and children and grandchildren won't thank us if we let it get worse. There is a theory that all the melting ice will cause the gulf stream to change course and that is what keeps us warm, without the gulf stream we could get siberian weather, that should make for challenging gardening. Hope the weekend is not too bad for you all up there

Oh, Holly, I'm so sorry to hear your woes - especially your daughter's. I can't imagine what people are going through in the floods. We are vulnerable, with a stream in the garden, our hamlet has been flooded in the past with our lane impassable After heavy rain, the stream rises alarmingly and we all keep a close watch on it with fingers crossed. We haven't had as much rain as you up there, as yet. Thinking about you.

Sorry to hear about your daughter I think the whole country is so shocked at how this weather has hit so fast. Gardeners are always dealing with the elements but this has suprised so many. I garden on clay and am watching all my top soil wash away but it will pick up again, I hope your daughter is back on her feet soon and not too much damage.

I'm so sorry to hear about all the flood damage in your areas - and i moan about it raining too often and being cold, so that my plants are all still green leaves and nothing much else! I planned my whole gardening year round the constant media statements that we were in for a hotter summer than last year - when will this happen? I am sure that, unless several major countries change their policies soon, seasonal gardening and horticultural advice books, magazines, etc, will have to be rewritten. We can no longer do tasks month-by-month,as we are taught, and have to rely more and more on our own observations and intuition. For instance, in recent times we were being advised to grow Mediterranean plant schemes for our hotter, dryer climate - how would such schemes look now with all this miserable weather? Hope everyone who has had a personal disaster has the strength and will to start again. We need our own green spaces more than ever nowadays.

Holly, I am so sorry to hear about your daughter's house, the scenes of Sheffield on the news look dreadful. The weather here has been "bad" with quite a bit of rain but seeing what others are having to cope with really puts it into perspective. I hope your garden and daughter's house are able to return to normal very soon.

For those of you that are concerned about climate change the government has a new website that can help with ideas on how to reduce your household CO2 emissions http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html

Peter, you really are a wizard when it comes to providing useful websites, right down to the very addresses we need. Many thanx for that one, am going right now to look at that one. PS. Our Lobelia "Ruby Sl;ippers" have been ordered, thanx 2u!